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Southwest Airlines (LUV) Stock Moves 0.57%: What You Should Know

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Southwest Airlines (LUV - Free Report) closed the latest trading day at $28.17, indicating a +0.57% change from the previous session's end. The stock performed in line with S&P 500. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.83%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.39%.

Shares of the airline have depreciated by 17.45% over the course of the past month, underperforming the Transportation sector's gain of 1.02% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.97%.

The upcoming earnings release of Southwest Airlines will be of great interest to investors. The company's earnings report is expected on April 25, 2024. On that day, Southwest Airlines is projected to report earnings of -$0.19 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 29.63%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $6.48 billion, up 13.48% from the prior-year quarter.

In terms of the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates predict earnings of $1.73 per share and a revenue of $28.61 billion, indicating changes of +10.19% and +9.67%, respectively, from the former year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Southwest Airlines. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, running from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), holds an admirable track record of superior performance, independently audited, with #1 stocks contributing an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 6.39% lower. Southwest Airlines presently features a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

In the context of valuation, Southwest Airlines is at present trading with a Forward P/E ratio of 16.23. This expresses a premium compared to the average Forward P/E of 8.48 of its industry.

We can also see that LUV currently has a PEG ratio of 0.83. The PEG ratio bears resemblance to the frequently used P/E ratio, but this parameter also includes the company's expected earnings growth trajectory. As of the close of trade yesterday, the Transportation - Airline industry held an average PEG ratio of 0.73.

The Transportation - Airline industry is part of the Transportation sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 79, which puts it in the top 32% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank is ordered from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

To follow LUV in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.


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